Hot Topics:

A Special Connection: Jere Donley, Bodacious Ball connect after tragedy

Donley's daughter, Sammi Jo Gaunt, died in car accident in Penrose

By BRANDON HOPPER hopperb@ canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
01/04/2013 09:20:01 PM MST

Jere Donley, left, and Bodacious Ball have grown a special mother-son relationship after the passing of Sammi Jo Gaunt. (Jeff Shane/Daily Record)

A tragic accident in 2011 created a void in a mom's heart. The two people who connected because of the tragedy had never met each other at the time, but now they can't imagine life apart.

"He fills a huge void in my heart," Jere Donley said. "Nobody can ever take Sammi's place, but I wasn't done being a mom."

On Jan. 2, 2011, Donley's daughter, Cañon City High School senior Sammi Jo Gaunt, died in a car accident in Penrose -- not even 48 hours after getting engaged to Ethan Brule.

Brule was in the Army stationed in Kansas and had grown to become great friends with Bodacious Ball. Ball accompanied Brule home to help him in his time of grieving, which is where he got to know Donley.

Ball, 23, didn't have a close-knit family growing up -- much less a mom. His biological mother left the family when he was 4, and his father and stepmother divorced when he was 6. His father spent some time in prison. During high school, Ball emancipated himself and played baseball and worked after school to pay rent. Growing up, he never lived anywhere longer than one year until he joined the Army and was forced to live where they stationed him.

The fit seemed natural for Donley, who just lost Gaunt, and Ball, who never had a parent figure he could rely on. When he was discharged from the Army in June 2011, Donley invited Ball to move in with her.

Advertisement

"I've never had anyone to talk to. I've lived on my own for a long time," Ball said. "I departed from my family when I was 13. I've never really had a base. This is the longest I've ever lived in one place without being stationed there or forced to live there by the Army."

The two have gained a special relationship connection that neither of them ever had before. Donley also has a 28-year-old daughter, Alexandria Cruz, but never had a son.

"She's pretty much a mother figure," Ball said, "someone I can go to and talk to especially when I have problems. She's pretty much one of the most important people in my life."

Ball and Gaunt, who now basically share a mom, never met in person. They did have one phone conversation several days before she died in the one-car accident in Penrose. Ball said he could tell that Gaunt was witty and had an interesting way of arguing. Donley said the two had similar personalities that can light up a room.

Had Gaunt's tragic death never happened, Donley thinks the two still would've met because of the eventual Brule-Gaunt wedding but probably wouldn't have made the same connection they have now.

"His need for me may have been there, but I don't think my need for him would've been as great," she said.

"I would give anything in the whole world to have Sammi Jo back," Donley said. "I would do anything to have her back, but I couldn't imagine my life without him in it."

Now a pitcher for the Colorado State University-Pueblo baseball team, Bodacious Ball left the Army as a highly decorated combat veteran. He served four years as an Army Engineer.

Among other awards, Ball received a Purple Heart and an Afghanistan Campaign Medal with Bronze Star. In Afghanistan, he was a husky driver, which is basically a person who drives a tractor that detects explosives. He said he's been blown up 14 times, some severe and others minor. The awards aren't something he talks about though, he said his college coach Stan Sanchez doesn't even know about them.

"I just don't flaunt it. That's not an award you choose to get or you want to get, if that makes sense," Ball said talking about his Purple Heart. "It's not the award you want. Some people pass away, I'm lucky I got away with memory lapses, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, I have ringing in my ears. There are some people who got Purple Hearts that have one leg. One guy's got one eye, one arm."

-- Brandon Hopper

Missing out

Without a family growing up, Bodacious Ball didn't get some things that kids take for granted. When he was about to turn 22, Jere Donley asked Ball what he missed out on most growing up.

"Out of everything growing up," she said, "I asked him what he thought he missed out on as a kid for his birthday because he was getting ready to turn 22. He had never had a birthday cake."

Olav Chaney, a friend of the family, made a huge cake for the party, and some of Sammi Gaunt's softball friends got together and made 21 cupcakes, one for every birthday cake he missed.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.